UM Fans React To Claims Against Embattled Coach

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Fans and rivals continue to react to the scandalous report accusing UM Coach Al Golden of using a former UM employee as an off-the-books recruiter.

Miami head football coach Al Golden will be entering his second season at the University of Miami amidst new allegations he had direct knowledge of an employee’s improper involvement with Miami recruits.

According to a recent report by Yahoo! Sports, that employee is former Hurricanes Equipment Manager Sean Allen, who was linked to convicted Ponzi schemer Nevin Shapiro in last year’s player benefits scandal.

UM fan Carlos Enriquez thinks it’s much ado about nothing.

“These guys are getting desperate. You’re giving credit to a guy who is a convict and Ponzi schemer and a ball boy that use to work there and is no longer working there,” said Enriquez.

Alan Diamond doesn’t believe the allegations, either.

“I think it’s ridiculous. I think he’s a man of integrity and I have great trust and confidence in him,” said Dimond of Coach Golden.

Yahoo! Sports, however, is reporting that within days of Golden being hired by the university, he began using Allen to recruit multiple Miami area high school players, in violation of NCAA rules. According to the report, phone records show Allen had contact with at least ten Miami high schoolers being recruited by Golden and that the calls ranged from December 17th of 2010, just after golden was hired, to July of 2011, just before allen stopped working for UM.

In response, Golden released a statement that says in part “I have been a college football coach for 18 years, and I am proud of, and stand by, my record of compliance over that span. He adds “the inferences and suggestions in the Yahoo Sports! story that my conduct was anything but ethical are simply false.”